The SCCA Continental Championship was an annual, professional, open-wheel motor racing series organized by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), under various names, from 1967 to 1976.
The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is an American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers.
The inaugural series was staged in 1967 as the SCCA Grand Prix Championship. [1] It was open to the SCCA's existing Formula A, Formula B and Formula C cars, which were restricted to maximum engine capacities of 3 liters, 1.6 liters and 1.1 liters respectively. [2] For 1968, the SCCA amended their Formula A regulations to allow the use of production-based V8 engines, restricted to a 5-liter maximum engine capacity, in addition to the existing 3 liter engines. [2]
Formula C was an open wheeled SCCA racing class originating in the mid 1960s, derived from the failed Formula Junior class. Formula C cars were very similar to Formula Juniors; Formula B was a similar class with uprated 1600 cc engines. Formula C cars were limited to 1100 cc engines. In the SCCA today, Formula Continental is the direct descendant of Formula C.
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder V configuration engine with the cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two sets of four, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft. Most banks are set at a right angle (90°) to each other, some at a narrower angle, with 45°, 60°, and 72° most common.
For 1969 the series was renamed to the SCCA Continental Championship, [1] with the Formula A cars now contesting a separate feature race at each championship event and the Formula B & C cars competing in their own race for separate points. [3] The championship received substantial sponsorship from L&M Cigarettes for 1970. [4] Increased support from L&M saw the championship renamed to become the SCCA L&M Continental 5000 Championship for 1971, [5] the 5000 component of the name chosen to give the 5 liter formula greater international recognition. [6] As of 1972, the Formula A regulations still permitted both 5000cc restricted and 3000cc unrestricted engines. [7] Sponsorship by the L&M cigarette brand was not carried forward from the 1973 championship. [8]
An agreement was reached between the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and the United States Auto Club (USAC) to jointly sanction the championship from 1974. [8] The championship was renamed to the SCCA/USAC Formula 5000 Championship and was now open to both SCCA Formula 5000 cars and USAC Championship Division cars. [9] The latter could be powered by supercharged engines of up to 2650cc, non- supercharged overhead camshaft engines of up to 4,200cc or production, non- supercharged, non-overhead camshaft engines of up to 5,250cc. [9]
The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapolis 500. Today, USAC serves as the sanctioning body for a number of racing series, including the Silver Crown Series, National Sprint Cars, National Midgets, Speed2 Midget Series, .25 Midget Series, Stadium Super Trucks, TORC: The Off-Road Championship, and Pirelli World Challenge.
Formula 5000 was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars that no longer fit into any particular formula. The '5000' denomination comes from the maximum 5.0 litre engine capacity allowed in the cars, although many cars ran with smaller engines. Manufacturers included McLaren, Eagle, March, Lola, Lotus, Elfin, Matich and Chevron.
A supercharger is an air compressor that increases the pressure or density of air supplied to an internal combustion engine. This gives each intake cycle of the engine more oxygen, letting it burn more fuel and do more work, thus increasing power.
During 1976 USAC announced their intention to withdraw from the co-sanctioning arrangement at the end of the year. [10] The SCCA proposed to stage a ten race championship in 1977 but subsequently decided to replace the Formula 5000 Championship with a revived Can Am Series. [11] Regulations permitted the existing Formula 5000 cars, with fully enveloping bodywork, to compete in the new series. [11]
